Gille/Vliegen Clinch Singapore Title
Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen extended their unbeaten record in ATP Tour finals on Sunday with a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Matthew Ebden and John-Patrick Smith at the Singapore Tennis Open.
The Belgians converted four of their five break points to improve to 5-0 in tour-level championship matches after 66 minutes. Gille and Vliegen entered the tournament with a 1-2 record this season, but they produced their best tennis in Singapore to win all four of their matches at the ATP 250 in straight sets.
“It is going really well in the finals,” said Gille. “We had been talking about [our record]… We have got our fifth title now and it is giving us a lot of confidence as well. It had been going well in the past and we were full of confidence this week. We just carried that through to today and we are very happy and satisfied with our level and the title.”
“We started the year in Australia and had a good feeling. It didn’t really work out for us… [It is] a really big motivation boost for us, winning the title here… We played really well all week and we are very happy to finish it off with a win,” said Vliegen.
Ebden and Smith were attempting to capture their first team title. The Aussie pair owns an 8-3 record this season, following runs to the Great Ocean Road Open semi-finals and the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Gille and Vliegen receive 250 FedEx ATP Doubles Ranking points and split $8,630 in prize money. Ebden and Smith gain 150 points and share $6,330.